These Awkward Moments

Part 68 Suspicion

Delilah's POV
I woke up early the next morning with my head on Daryl's chest and his arms wrapped around me. It was a lovely feeling for about two seconds, until I became aware of being uncomfortable throughout my entire body. Not because of anything delightful I had done with Daryl the night before. The creatures in my ever expanding uterus were pushing my intestines back against my spine and squishing them up into my diaphragm. This left me with significantly less space for things like lung volume. My lower legs had begun to swell each day, and my feet and knees were chronically achy from the weight I was carrying around. I was more miserable than I had ever been in my life.

To make matters worse, I was fully aware of the fact that I was a moody, irrational, hormonal, raging bitch most of the time. But I seemed to have absolutely no control over it whatsoever. My difficulty the night before in controlling my temper with Negan had driven this home to me more than any of the other instances. I had been snippy to Gavin and Dr. Carson on more than one occasion. The day before Dr. Carson had actually gently suggested that maybe the time had come for me to begin my maternity leave. I tried to be as patient as possible with the children, but it was difficult not to take my misery out on those closest to me. I knew how blessed I was to have Carol available to help whenever I needed her. Even my dear, sweet Max was making himself scarce lately. But he had also been spending a bit more time at the Kingdom lately, and we suspected he was interested in a girl there.

Daryl had been nothing short of amazing. He seemed to know instinctively when it was ok to try to joke and cajole me out of a bad mood, as he had last night with Negan. But he also knew when to just step back and leave me alone, or when to clear the room and insist that the kids go outside to play for a while. I was amazed that someone with so little experience in relationships had become such an expert in the years we had been together.

So I felt physically miserable. I was a hormonal, emotional wreck. And I knew that I was going to alienate myself from everyone who loved me. I was feeling thoroughly sorry for myself. I groaned as I struggled to untangle myself from my sleeping husband enough to stretch my stiff body. As usual, Daryl was quickly awake and aware of the smallest detail in the room. "Mornin' Doc. You feelin' ok this mornin'?" he asked as he stretched his toned naked body across the bed. I was even jealous that he could stretch so easily!

"Yeah, sure! I feel just great! I look like Violet Beauregarde, just not blue. Maybe we should call the Oompa Loompas to take me away ta squeeze the juice outta me?" I responded sarcastically.

Daryl didn't say anything and I glanced over at him. He had a puzzled look on his face, but also looked as if he was truly conflicted as to whether or not he wanted to say anything. He finally made the decision to dive in. "Ummm... ok? But who exactly is Violet Bo-whatever? And what the fuck is an Oompa Loompa?"

I rolled over onto my side to face him and propped my head on one hand. "I'm guessin' you never read 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', and probably never saw the movie?"

Daryl shook his head. "Uhhh, no. Didn't ever have much time for readin' or watchin' movies. My dad was the only one in the house that watched television. So no. No idea about Charlie or chocolate either."

I smiled into his eyes. "Ok then! We have a new mission! As soon as these babies are outta me, we are gonna go scavenge some libraries until we find every possible piece of children's literature. Then every night we can read the books to the kids, but you'll be able ta hear the stories too!"

Daryl chuckled and pulled me into his arms, dropping a kiss onto my nose. "That sounds great love. But for now we gotta stay focused on the step one part. Gettin' those babies outta you. I wanna meet our babies. Surely ta God they can't stay in there much longer!"